Those little silicone packets that come with electronics

[basementdweller]

My brother's thread about cold weather affecting his DCC throttle got me thinking about this.

I am sure we are all familiar with those little silicone packets that come with every electronic item these days, does anyone save them and reuse them when boxing or storing locomotives and other electronic components?

My layout is in my basement and while I run a dehumidifyer 24/7 I wonder if saving and using those silicone packs inside boxed locomotives etc would be prudent.

Thoughts?

[gmpullman]

My thoughts on those silica packets is... They have to have a saturation point where they will no longer absorb any more moisture.

Manufacturers probably take them out of a controlled (very dry) environment then seal and shrink wrap them inside the package where they will absorb humidity, up to a point.

I had some huge ones, about 2 lbs. each and they had instructions printed on them for "baking them out" and IIRC I had to put them in a 275° oven for four hours to dehydrate them. I did that every fall for a few years when I put my old car in storage. I guess they worked since the car came out of storage with little mustiness in it.

So I would say if you put the packets somewhere very arid (or a vacuum?) so that they weren't already saturated they would probably help. Same goes for those plastic buckets of "basement dry" or whatever it is, again once it has soaked up all the moisture they won't contribute to any more moisture control.

I could be "all wet" but that's my Ed

[rrinker]

 How effective they will be is questionable, as stated, they reach a point where they've absorbed as much moister as they can and will do nothing more. However, they definitely won't hurt anything, unless you break them open and sprinkle the pellets on painted surfaces - no idea if it would dmaage the pint or not, but locked up in their packets, they won't.

 I always have a big pack in my toolbox, it's been there for years and so by now is certainly saturated, I used to get them out of boxes when unpacking large printers and plotters, it's about the size of the rosin bag you see baseball players use.

                     --Randy

 

[Renoir]

Martin

An interesting thought - I will give this a go in the drawers I use for storage in my garage.

Paul

[richg1998]

All the packets I have eve seen are labeled as to what they are.

 Usually they have blue desiccant and the desiccant slowly turns pink as they absorb moisture. Usually five minutes in a micro wave turn them blue and dry. Let the desiccant cool before returning it to the container.

 I have done that many times over the years.

 A simple Google search will give you more info than you need.

 Rich